Could you help me to narrow this down? Not familiar with these areas. (Chesapeake: for sale)

[famlife]

I need to find a fixer with acreage within an hour of one of these towns/cities, for as cheaply as possible. Could you tell me where might be realistic to start looking? If it's within a couple hours to the ocean, that would be a dream, but I realize that may be unreasonable. I really like the Chesapeake area, but am looking for farmland as opposed to suburbia. Maybe Front Royal? I do enjoy camping at Shenandoah. If it's a little over an hour away, that's okay, too. i wouldn't want it to be much more than an hour and fifteen though, as we'd be driving it once per week. I'm really not very familiar with any of these places, let alone the outer areas.

We work from home and homeschool, so no issues there.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Alexandria
Annandale
Fredericksburg
Front Royal
Gainesville
King George
Leesburg
McLean
Warrenton
Chesapeake
Richmond

[LynchburgLover]

Two key questions -- price range because "as cheaply as possible" means different things -- I might think $700,000 would be cheap for acreage near Warrenton for fox hunting horses -- and how much acreage -- a 2 acre McMansion plot or 40 to have corn/soybeans?

You can eliminate McLean -- you really won't find "fixers" on acreage anywhere near McLean without really, really deep pockets. The same is pretty true of Leesburg. Loudoun tends to be horse farms and vineyards and the price for land has skyrocketed.

Best of luck.

[famlife]

Thanks. I mean as cheaply as possible. Like, closest to $0 as you can get. In more remote areas of the state, you could pick up an ancient fixer on a few acres for $30k if you knew where to look... I'm hoping to find something under $100k near these areas. Even just 2 acres.
Possible?

[LynchburgLover]

Well, you can certainly rule out McLean, Annandale, Alexandria and anything in the Northern Virginia area, including Warrenton, Gainesville and Front Royal . You mention several areas in NoVa where, within an hour, you're still looking at $150-200,000 for one bedroom condominiums. All of the areas you listed are fairly good-size cities and Virginia is a relatively expensive state.

Your best best would be to contact a realtor specializing in farm properties in the southern/southwestern part of the state.

Just curious -- since you work from home and home school, how did you pick Virginia? There are other states with much lower costs of living and small cities.

Of course, anything is "possible" but this sounds highly improbable.

Best of luck.

[famlife]

Thanks. We just love VA. From the Appalachian trail to the Atlantic Ocean, we just love it. The History, scenic beauty, architecture, food, climate, everything. We have looked at various other states on the Atlantic Coast, (we would like to be within a day trip to the ocean) but VA is one of the more affordable states, believe it or not. North Carolina and Georgia are considerations, but we really like the climate of VA better.
My dad's side has lived solely in VA since the early 1600's until my grandpa moved them to MI to work for General Motors because my grandma was worried about black lung. It's neat to see my ancestors and relatives on monuments and plaques throughout the state, from some of the earliest written history of the country. Plus, growing up in a hillbilly VA family, I got used to the awesome southern cooking and sun tea my sons are Revolutionary and Civil War enthusiasts and there's a lifetime of those things to see in VA, including reenactments. We'd be not too far from Gettysburg, either, which we enjoy. Well, far closer than we are now...
Blah blah, I could go on forever. We love the mid Atlantic climate and history, and would like to knock out more of the Appalachian trail, which VA is a pretty handy spot for where we left off. Also, the VA Creeper trail is something we'd look forward to biking. Did I mention the rivers and waterfalls??
Out of all the places I've been researching and considering, VA is the state that I'm kind of rooting for. Southeastern Pennsylvania is awesome, but the politics of homeschooling there are pretty ridiculous. Georgia is nice, too, but it'd be a good thing for my kids to experience winter. We've been in Tucson for the past two Christmases, and it just doesn't feel right to eat candy canes in the pool.

Oh my, I'm going on and on. Well, there's my novel, folks.

I guess I may have to settle for a longer drive once per week. I wonder if FarmVille is low cost.

[LynchburgLover]

Virginia is a great state with so much to offer -- which is why the cost of living is high. Lots of people want to live in Virginia. My family, too, has been here since the 1700s but we are being squeezed out by the col, too. A lot of the smaller cities -- Winchester, Lexington, Roanoke, Lynchburg, Williamsburg, Charlottesville etc.-- are all becoming popular retirement locations for northerners seeking a milder climate.

Farmville is a college town -- Hampden Sydney College and Longwood University are there. Not too sure about real estate costs there.

Best of luck.

[famlife]

Thanks I'll post back if I land something!

[Charlesaf3]

Doable within an hour of Richmond. Close to chesapeake even. Depends on how much fixing you're willing to do, and you'll be in the sticks... East and south of Richmond are cheaper

[novanwbie]

Well, certainly within an hour of Farmville you could find something cheaper. I would recommend focusing on the more depressed agricultural areas of the state. Check the area north and east of Richmond, for example, or the southside, which would be the area along 460 and 58, to the south of the state. You could be within one hour of Richmond in both of these areas, and if you're willing to put sweat equity in, you should be able to find something relatively cheaply. I'd look up some of the counties, go to realtor.com and search for farms and land, with no bottom price. I bet you'll find something. We've seen some incredible deals in rural areas.

[Noble Savage]

I'm in the King George/ Colonial Beach area often. I see quite a lot of houses for sale and some are "fixer uppers" Go on Redfin and search zip codes 22443 & 22485. Good luck.